Building Golden Gate style Bridges

[Frish]

yes, stress it slow, don't just drop kick all the invisible hand-of-god supports out from under it when you hit test . . . let it start curved and bent and stuff.

[Calastigro]

A while ago, i was putzing around, and i wanted to make golden-gatey bridges.  First problem?  Making cables curved, slack, and able to be attached to things along their run.  My solution?  build the shape of cable out of steel, then delete it, leaving the points behind.  then connect the dots.  wow!  i'm surprised that worked.  yeah.  i hope this helps people out there.

[Calastigro]

something i have done, which i think is cool, is on some levels where it's really hard to make a supported bridge, i didn't.  I built out, then made a bridge floating, to be dropped when you hit test.  it works well on certain levels (like complex #15).  I'll e-mail you a copy if you wanna see...

[baggio]

Quote: from Calastigro on 7:10 pm on Oct. 18, 2001
something i have done, which i think is cool, is on some levels where it's really hard to make a supported bridge, i didn't.  I built out, then made a bridge floating, to be dropped when you hit test.  it works well on certain levels (like complex #15).  I'll e-mail you a copy if you wanna see...

[Remnant]

Hmm. I've been able to do exactly that with cable.. not sure why you'd need to build the shape out of steel first, as you can do the exact same thing with cable.

[Calastigro]

if i'm not mistaken, you can only connect the dots with cable... wait, maybe i am mistaken... lemme check...

[JohnK]

Suspension cable bridges are cool, but it would be nice if you could pre-tension the cables so the bridge wouldn't do that floppy thing when you test it. Does this make any sense?

[Calastigro]

yeah, i'm just hecka dumb.... sorry...

[Brinx]

Heh, I used a similar tactic too on some levels: First build the hanging cable w/ no cables hanging down from it. Then test the "bridge" and see if the hanging cable keeps its shape. If not, adjust its shape so it best fits the "equilibrium" position (You often need HD grid for this), and then hang cables from the main one to attach the deck to. It works very well, if your main bridgeposts are sturdy enough.

[mat-c]

Hanging a cable is a cool idea... and its accurate enough that it probably works
Technically however a hanging cable is a catenary (formed by adding two exponentials) whereas a light cable supporting a heavy deck (the case for Pontifex) is a parabola (x squared relative to the centre).
If you can't be bothered with a calculator, just increment each successive segment from the centre by an increasing amount.  Eg 1unit, 2units, 4, 7, 11, 16 etc.   This is a parabola, the perfect shape for a suspension bridge with light cables